| GAME ONE Fri., Mar. 25, 4 p.m. WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME TWO Sat., Mar. 26, 6 p.m. WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME THREE Sun., Mar. 27, 4 p.m. WATCH | LIVE STATS |
ORLANDO – The No. 23 UCF softball team is set to head West on I-4 to Tampa as it opens conference play against South Florida this weekend. The Knights will once again clash with their foes on Florida's west coast, starting on Friday at 4 p.m.
The Black and Gold are riding a 15-game winning streak after picking up a sweep of Furman last weekend. The streak is tied for the second longest in program history and is six games short of tying the team's longest winning streak of 21 which was set in the team's first season in 2002. UCF owns the third longest active winning streak in the country at the moment, behind only Oklahoma with 28 straight and UCLA who has won 19 in a row.
UCF has hit .373 during the winning streak while holding opponents to a .226 batting average. Three Knights have hit over .425 on the winning streak with nine hitting over .320. Jada Cody leads the way with a batting average of .511 with eight homers and 34 RBI, followed by Denali Schappacher, batting .472 with five stolen bases, and Shannon Doherty who is hitting .432 with four doubles and 12 RBI. In the circle, UCF pitchers have posted a 1.88 ERA while striking out 87 batters, 53 of which belong to Gianna Mancha. In the field, The Knights have only made six errors over the last 15 games.
Reigning American Athletic Conference Player of the Week Cody is erupting onto the national stage as she currently leads the nation in RBI with 50, seven ahead of the next closest player. She is second in the country in RBI per game, posting an average of 1.52. She is also ranked top 10 in total bases, collecting 79 to this point, good enough for eighth in the country. The national rankings continue as she is 25th in hits with 38 and 26th with nine homers. Her slugging percentage improved by .087 over the weekend after belting three doubles, two triples and a home run. She added nine more RBI to her season total, three in each game, allowing her to climb into third place on UCF's single-season RBI list. Just a sophomore, Cody is already on the Knights' career RBI list, earning 96 total.
Cody, along with Mancha, earned conference player and pitcher of the week honors for their performances a week ago. Mancha tossed the program's 19th no-hitter and the second of her career, working six innings against Furman, earning eight strikeouts. Cody hit .636 on the week with seven hits, six of them being for extra bases while plating 10 more RBI.
The Black and Gold still lead the country in walks, drawing 145 through 33 games to this point. The walks have helped bolster the team's on base percentage, which now ranks fifth in the country with a .436 clip. UCF is ranked 13th in the nation in runs per game, averaging 6.94 a contest and are 23rd in batting average with a .323 clip.
The Knights will match up with the Bulls with a chance to take the lead in the all-time series, which South Florida currently leads 17-15. UCF has won the last four meetings against their rival and look to make it seven straight to take the all-time lead.
South Florida enters the weekend with a 28-7 record, going 6-4 in their last ten games, and have ridden the wave of Georgina Corrick in the circle. She is 22-1 this season with a 0.14 ERA and 229 strikeouts, all ranking first in the nation. When taking Corrick's stats out, the Bulls are 6-6 with a 3.76 ERA, a team mark that would place them 154th in the country. With Corrick added to the equation, South Florida is ninth in ERA, sixth in strikeout to walk ratio with a mark of 5.63 and hold batters to a .167 batting average. The Bulls occasionally struggle on the offensive side of things, coming into the contest batting .273 as a team which is 125th in the country. They score 4.37 runs a game, placing them 136th among NCAA programs. Their on base and slugging percentages also rank beyond the top 100, checking in at 108th (.360) and 177th (.368) respectively.
The Knights are dominating the Bulls in the all-sport War On I-4 tally as UCF holds a 33-12 lead. Each game of softball's three-game series will be worth two points toward the overall tally. The Black and Gold have won the rivalry series all five times that it has been officially been an all-sports competition. Whichever side passes the 42 point threshold will claim War On I-4 bragging rights.
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